People
Catch 22 for corporate liquidity
Companies facing relatively minor business difficulties are being shut out of the commercial paper market, forcing their treasurers to scramble for alternative financing to avoid insolvency. Is there any way to manage this liquidity risk?
Capital thinking
Manuel Méndez aims to have BBVA among the first to qualify for Basel II’s advanced risk capital approaches.
Job moves
QUOTE OF THE MONTH: - “I have come to you with a problem – we need to outsource our balance-sheet funding” From an e-mail sent last year by John Rusnak to an unnamed counterparty, referring to his deep-in-the-money options trades, or ‘synthetic loans'.
Corporate disclosure | Exposing exposures: how far will it go?
The Enron debacle has spurred investors and creditors to press for greater disclosure of corporate risk and hedging strategies. Companies are beginning to respond. How far will it go? Naomi Humphries reports
Fannie and Freddie – a look under the lid
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are two of the largest and most sophisticated participants in the US interest rate derivatives market. But criticism of their risk management has been growing. Is the market safe?
NSSB hires fixed-income derivatives structurer
Nikko Salomon Smith Barney (NSSB) has hired Tatsuya Takeda as a director in its fixed-income derivatives team, according to an official at the bank in Tokyo.
US insurer hires credit derivatives specialist
American Capital Access (ACA), a US financial insurance specialist, has hired Joseph Pimbley as its credit derivatives portfolio manager.
Swiss Re Financial Services names Godfrey as chief risk officer
Swiss Re Financial Services Business Group, a unit of reinsurer Swiss Re, has hired David Godfrey as chief risk officer.
Derivatives expert Calello made new head of CSFB Asia-Pacific
Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) has named Paul Calello chairman and chief executive of the Asia-Pacific region including Japan, Australia and New Zealand. He will relocate to Hong Kong from New York, where he was head of the firm's global equity…
Derivatives unit unaffected by ABN Amro cuts
ABN Amro's decision effectively to pull out of the US cash equities and M&A business will leave its derivatives business intact.
Credit derivatives majors form data alliance
Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan Chase have launched a credit derivatives market data scrubbing and sharing project meant to head off disputes among market participants over the terms of their contracts.
CSFB hires structurer in NY
Tony Capozzoli has joined Credit Suisse's investment banking arm, CSFB, in New York as a corporate structurer, leaving his role as a senior risk analyst at Bank of America, also on Wall Street.
US bill proposes greater OTC regulation
Legislation to bring over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives under US federal regulation has been introduced to the US House of Representatives. Peter DeFazio, representative for Oregon (Democrat), introduced a bill named HR 4038 that proposes combining the…
CBOT appoints new head of business and product development
The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) has named Martin Reiner senior vice-president in charges of sales, marketing and product development. The appointment is important, as the CBOT and rival Chicago-based derivatives exchanges, the Chicago Board Options…
ABN Amro steps up credit derivatives effort
Dutch bank ABN Amro is steadily building up its credit derivatives team under Arnie Groes, its new head of global credit derivatives.
IntesaBCI puts weather risk on hold
IntesaBCI has shelved its plans to trade weather derivatives this year, in a move likely to prompt closer scrutiny of weather trading performance at other banks.
Blundell new CME managing director in Europe
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has named Mark Blundell as managing director, CME Europe, based in London.
LeBlanc leaves DrKW to head risk management at Barclays
Robert LeBlanc has joined Barclays Capital as its new head of risk management, after less than a year at German rival Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW). Both banks declined to comment on the move.
Staying clear of equities
Peter Brain has enjoyed success with the Stellar High Yield Hedge Fund by mixing different asset classes and a low correlation to equities
The Specialists
Finding experienced staff in such a young industry can be extremely difficult and so headhunting firms are starting to do big business filling this gap